


Call Out

by Brennah_K



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV), Numb3rs (TV)
Genre: Canon Divergence Numb3rs, Crossover, Dialogue-Only, Don Eppes... not so much in this ep, Don's a bit OOC - in canon, Episode tag: s01e2 The Uncertainty Principle (Numb3rs), Language Warnings, Spencer would make an excellent big brother
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-13
Updated: 2020-04-13
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:34:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,024
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23632420
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brennah_K/pseuds/Brennah_K
Summary: During the (s01e02) savings and loan robbery case, SSA Don Eppes gets an unexpected call from a genius, but not the one he expects to hear from.  As much as he needs a genius on the case, what he's about to hear ... well, he's not going to like it, but what would you expect?Pissing off Dr. Spencer Reid is a guaranteed way of asking to hear unpleasant truths... whether you're ready for them or not.
Relationships: Spencer & Charlie
Comments: 2
Kudos: 88





	Call Out

**Author's Note:**

> Soooo, this is what happens when I go too long without speaking to people face-to-face. Like so many other things are in my life right now, it's all about the long-distance dialogue.

//In-person dialogue// ~~Via Phone~~ @@text@@ 

ブレンキン

~~ “Yes… Charlie, there is absolutely no need for _you_ to apologize. You're doing what you’re capable of to help your brother clear this case, whether he realizes it or not.’~~ 

… 

~~ ‘Of course, I don’t mind consulting. No, Hotch won’t mind, once I explain it to him. Now, send me his cell-phone number and call Professor Lloyd; he’s always good for…’ Oh, I hadn’t heard.’ ~~

… 

~~ ‘Who’s taken over his courses? Really, Professor Flienhardt? … … ... That’s an interesting choice, but you get along with him pretty well don’t you?’ ~~

~~ '... Good, give him a call and invite him to lunch at that little ‘Cosmos’ diner’; it was always funny to watch Professor Lloyd’s reaction to the astronomy errors in their decor. I can only imagine Professor Flienhardt’s. ... In fact, I’ll wager that you hear at least twelve variations of ‘Oh my’ within the first half hour.' ~~ 

~~ 'The stakes? How about co-authorship on the geographical profiling white paper I’m planning to submit to the FLETC curriculum board? Done. Yes, I’ll call him right after we finish this call.’~~ 

… 

~~’No, Charlie, that wasn’t your cue to shut up. I understand it’s … Yes, exactly. Call me this evening and let me know how lunch goes. You, too. You’re welcome. Bye.’~~ 

… 

// “Everything alright there, Pretty Boy? You’re lookin’ mighty tense.” // 

// “... Not really, no, but I’m about to correct that.” //

// “Okayyy.. I’ll take your word for it. Just let me know if you need any… Hey, you don’t need to look at me like that. Just offerin’. Backin’ off here. It’s your show.” // 

ブレンキン

~~ “Eppes.~~ 

~~ “SSA Donald Richard Loving Eppes… This is Dr. Spencer Reid, I doubt you will remember my name, so before you inevitably prove your flawed intuition and lack of common professionalism, let me brief you on my background and explain why I am calling you.” ~~ 

~~ “Look Doctor... Reid, is it? I don’t know who you think you are, but…”~~ 

~~ “As I stated, Agent Eppes, I will explain exactly who I am and why I am calling. Do you think you’re capable of listening, or should I call your Agent in Charge?” ~~ 

ブレンキン

// “Is everything okay, here?” // 

// “To tell you the truth, Hotch: I have no idea. Pretty boy just got a call that seems to have seriously pissed him off, and from what I’ve just heard, he’s planning to make this Agent Eppes regret whatever his part in the situation was.” // 

// “Agent Eppes? I’m not familiar with anyone locally by the name Eppes. Keep an eye on him. I'll check Eppes out in our database. Keep me updated on anything you can glean from this side of the conversation.” // 

// “Sure thing.” // 

~~ “Are you done? I can wait; the longer you wait to listen to me, the longer your case goes unsolved, and the more advantage you give to the men you are trying to catch … but by all means, if it will assuage your ego to continue to rant, do so… It’s not like peoples’ lives are actually on the line.” ~~ 

ブレンキン

~~ “What the hell do you know about the case I’m on?”~~ 

~~“I’ll get to that in a minute. First, to ensure that you are capable of taking what I say seriously, I presume you have an office or conference room where Dr. Eppes worked on his calculations? Unless someone in your office had the presumption to erase Dr. Eppes’ work, you should move to the room while we continue this conversation.”~~ 

~~ “Damn it! Charlie is not supposed to be giving out information about ongoing cases. I thought he was smarter than that. Look, I don’t know…”~~ 

~~ “A great many things, I’m sure; however, let me clarify matters for you. As I started to explain earlier, I currently hold degrees in Mathematics, Chemistry, Engineering, Psychology, Sociology. While I am currently assigned to the Behavioral Analysis Unit in Quantico, Virginia, your clearance level is high enough that I can inform you that I also consult with the NSA, CDC, and other federal agencies you do not have the clearance to be informed of, a fact which Dr. Eppes became aware of when a lecture I was giving to one of his classes was interrupted by agents, from one of the latter mentioned agencies, whom required an immediate consultation. Considering the expertise I bring to the table and the associated clearance, Dr. Eppes was correct in…”~~ 

ブレンキン

@@ WTF?!? Hotch, Man, Since when has Reid been consulting for the NSA, CDC, and an ‘et. al.’ that sounds like it probably includes the CIA? Did you know this?!?@@ 

@@ Morgan, get him into a conference room immediately. He shouldn’t be discussing this in an open bullpen.@@ 

@@Did you know? You knew, didn’t you?@@ 

@@ Get him moved, Morgan. Now!@@ 

//Come on, Pretty Boy. Let’s take this into the blue room. You’re getting into topics that probably shouldn’t be announced to the whole neighborhood. // 

@@We're tucked away and secure.@@ 

@@Yes, I knew, just as I’m aware that your middle name is Timothy; your most recent undercover stint lasted two years; and that your range scores with using a sig sauer p226 average seven percent higher than your scores using the glock 17.@@ 

@@Okay, okay. I get it. Part of being the boss, but shit, I don’t like the idea of Reid being anywhere near those spooks without one of us watching his back.@@ 

@@A request has been placed in his jacket, asking that all consultations with that particular agency occur at Quantico, but for the moment, that’s all I can do.@@ 

@@I get it. Hate it, but get it. @@ 

ブレンキン

~~ “Have you reached the board?” ~~ 

~~ “I don’t know what you hope to gain with this. Regardless of your clearance level, Charlie shouldn’t have called you about this. Not without checking with me first. I don’t know what you’re expecting me to do here, but I am not going to send you photo of his work or anything else along those lines, so if that’s what you’re going to ask, you can forget it.”~~ 

~~ “Before you attempt to judge your brother’s actions, you need to have a better understanding of them.” ~~ 

~~ “Look, I know a lot more about them than you do. I’ve seen him do this before, and … I don’t care how important this P vs. NP thing is… People are going to die if he doesn’t get his head in the game… he just needs to snap out of it. “~~ 

~~ “Does he? Let’s try something and see if you change your mind about whether he needs to snap out of it or not. Look at the board. Somewhere near, let’s see, the second or third line of calculation, you should find a variable assigned with a capital D followed by the fahrenheit degree symbol followed by lower case subscript. Read the numbers inside the parenthesis. Including any lettered notation and punctuation.”~~ 

~~ “What the hell? How did you know that … never mind. Probably a math thing. Okay. 0 comma PT, 3 colon 2 m 1 f, 1 ml minus 5 minus 3 tr, ST 4 sq 28 m 9 w, ukn ml. Got all that?”~~ 

~~“Yes, now, look for that D degree symbol again and follow it through to the last time it occurs through the calculation. If I’m not mistaken, it will be close to, if not the last item he wrote. “~~ 

~~”Yeah… yeah, it’s there. I don’t know how you knew that, but it’s not quite the last thing though… It changes to a D with the degree followed by a one in parenthesis. How did you know?”~~ 

~~”Read the notation from the changed variable.”~~ 

~~”Where is this going?”~~ 

~~”Read the notation.”~~ 

~~”Not until you tell me what this’s about!”~~ 

~~”Read the notation, and I will be able to tell you what this is about.” 

~~”1 comma PT 2 colon 1 m 1 f, 1 ml minus 5 minus 3 tr, ST 4 sq 24 m 7 w, ukn ml. Now what does it mean?”~~ 

~~ “Simply put, when mathematicians analyze practical applications that - if applied can result in grievous harm or fatalities- part of that analysis often includes risk analysis of every solution put forward at least from conscientious mathematicians who are well aware that their conclusions can lead to these outcomes. This analysis is commonly not mentioned to the relevant ‘authorities’ requesting the analysis due to a disturbingly common phenomenon of higher administrators willingly committing men and resources to high risk options that have low possibility of positive outcomes; however, the results they receive usually exclude solutions that fail the risk analysis. ” ~~ 

~~ “I didn’t ask him to do any kind of risk analysis. That’s not his job. All I want to know is the next place these bastards are going to hit.”~~ 

~~”You might remember I specified conscientious mathematicians… and you’re right. It’s not his job. Neither is figuring out where the unsubs are going to target. He’s doing this as a favor to you... so perhaps you should extricate your head from your rectum and think about what it’s costing him to do that favor.”~~ 

~~ “What it’s costing him?!? What do you think it’s costing him? Okay, he had to walk through a messy crime scene, and it’s messed with his head. But we’ve lost people here. I’ve lost men that I put out there. I put them in the field to catch these guys, and they’re dead because of it, so while I’m sorry he’s upset - this thing is bigger than him.”~~ 

~~ “Are you really that blind? You think the only thing going on here is that he had to walk through the kind of messy crime scene that you’ve had training and experience getting through (as if that wasn’t enough). Well, let me explain some of the details you seem to be overlooking: your brother is well aware that his initial calculation is just as responsible as you are for putting those men out in the field, and he feels that he’s more responsible because he knows you wouldn’t have put them out there if you weren’t relying on his profile. He blames himself for their deaths and the burden that’s put on you because he didn’t take into account potentially unseen variables.”~~ 

~~ “Wait! I’ve never said he was responsible for this. It was my order that put them out there.”~~ 

~~ “Not in so many words, but do you really think that you haven't implied it? Telling him it’s his responsibility to tell you where to put your team now? Or that people will die if he doesn’t? Really? What did you think he'd take from that? Seriously?'~~

~~ ... ~~ 

~~ "Charlie's adept at reading between the lines, so whether you were conscious of the implications or not, he was. Then add to that the guilt he feels that because you were almost killed as a direct result of him telling you which bank to watch, and your repeated affirmations that because he can’t get over that and the results of his risk assessment more people are going to die… If you were putting this kind of pressure of one of your team members -- not someone who's doing you a favor -- I'd suggest you to step down from the role of an SSA and get a psyche eval before taking any other leadership roles, but I’m going to give you the benefit of the doubt as assume that you hadn’t fully thought through the impact of these events on your brother.”~~ 

~~ “I … I didn’t. He couldn’t have known. All the reports said…” ~~ 

~~ “He had the same information that you had, technically more, and he sees that you’re taking on the guilt of their deaths, that you’re coming to him for guidance… So how do you expect him not to take it on himself? You’re the one with the training and experience, but you're practically begging him to order you back into the field and telling him people are going to die if he doesn’t. How exactly is he supposed to not take that on himself… especially given his results.” ~~ 

~~ “You keep talking about these results, but you haven’t explained them.”~~ 

~~ “Are you ready to listen to the explanation?” ~~ 

~~ “... … I don’t know, but I’m beginning to think I need to hear it.”~~ 

~~ “That may be the first rational response I believe you’ve expressed during this phone discussion.” ~~ 

~~ “Yeh, yeh, I get it, you’re not impressed, and you’re pissed that I have been a jerk to Charlie. Tell me what I don’t know.” ~~ 

~~”Aside from the fact that you are exponentially overestimating my opinion of you?” ~~ 

~~ “Yeah, aside from that.” ~~ 

~~ “At the beginning of his calculations, the primary team, your team has three members, two males, one female, the male has approximately five years of military experience spent with an estimated three tours of duty. Your available back-up consists of approximately twenty eight men and nine women, with an unknown length of military experience. ... ... ... At the point, he could not continue his calculations, where the variable changed… his calculations predict - presumably to a 95% probability, which I believe is the general standard he would apply - that the remaining primary team will consist of two members, one male, one female, and the back up may have as many as twenty-four men seven women… based on the data he picked up while he was on the scene and from reading the relevant reports. By the way, your assumption that he was upset just from seeing a bloody scene and a few dead bodies fails to take into account how Charlie's mind works ... and vastly fails to recognize the data he was also taking in: he saw the angles, the effectiveness of the unsubs’ assault versus the effectiveness of officers, the rate and dispersal of bullet strikes, and the evidence that the unsubs had no compunction returning fire that could kill civilians where the officers were restrained by the fact.’ ~~~ 

~~~ “ Oh shit. I know he can see things like that sometimes, but... he didn't say...”~~

~~ “Based on these factors and his assessment of your emotional balance, in particular, but not only yours, your brother recognized that - according to the risk analysis - if he provides you the pattern he has currently identified, there is a significant probability that seven more of your people will be killed - acting on his calculations… on his orders so to speak… And just so you don’t have to think too hard to figure this out, his calculations are telling him that one of those fatalities will very probably be you given your personal involvement in the case and tendency to rush into the more dangerous front line and lead positions and lack of military experience. Before you try to argue that point; by the way, the D, which he uses to initiate the variable, represents your name, the initial 0 is an index reflecting back to yourself. Do I need to explain what the index change in the last iteration to reflect a primary team containing one male with five years military experience means?” ~~ 

… 

… 

~~ “I’ll take that as a no, but just in case, let me re-frame the ultimatum you’ve been giving Charlie: he can either elect to send you and six other agents out into the field to die… or he can be responsible for an unknown number of deaths that may happen while he tries to cope with the first option, and before you try to argue that if he just keeps trying he’ll come up with another option, you should take a look at the back side of the boards he’s using for the P vs. NP calculations. You’ll find your variable on every single one of them. Just because you haven’t seen him working on it, doesn’t mean he isn’t tearing himself apart with the attempts to solve it."~~ 

~~ "By the way, while you're at it, you should ask yourself whether - if he were one of the men under your command - you would let him anywhere near this given his personal involvement ... just from nearly losing his brother in the first assault much less the possibility of sending said brother back into a similar circumstance. If your answer is anything other than a resounding ‘no’, you have lost the objectivity to lead this investigation.”~~ 

~~ “I can’t just let these guys go. This is the best chance we have of stopping them.”~~ 

~~ “If you’ve been listening, you’ll realize I made no suggestion to that effect. If fact, if you weren’t so entrenched in your unreasonable expectations you place your brother, you might have recognized that other options are available." ~~

~~ "I'm not seeing a whole lot of options here. This group is dangerous and it's only a matter of time before..."~~ 

~~ "That answer alone suggests you are too close to the situation... So let me put this plainly: you can attempt to continue coercing you brother into a position that could very well emotionally destroy him (because we both know that with enough pressure you will be able to get him back under your thumb), you can reduce your brother’s personal involvement by taking yourself off the case, or you can request an outside consultant with the requisite clearance, mathematical fluency, and familiarity with geographical profiling." ~~

...

~~ "You’ll find that the Quantico BAU has a suitable candidate and one whose team is not currently involved in any cases. Given the recent and potential loss of lives, your request will undoubtedly be approved on request.”~~ 

~~ “That simple?”~~ 

~~ “Yes. In the meantime, forward the data that was released to Charlie as well as the data you are privy to - to Technical Analyst Penelope Garcia, BAU quantico, as well as a video of your brother’s calculations.” ~~ 

~~ “Okay… I’ll … I’ll take you up on that. I promise you, I didn’t know. I wouldn’t have..” ~~ 

~~ “Treated your brother like he’s supposed to be an emotionless robot, handy for calculations, but not much else.” ~~ 

~~ “I wouldn’t have put it quite that way, but something like that, I guess. By the way, I’m just curious, how do you know my brother? … I mean aside from the math thing. From … the tone of this call, it’s clearly more than a professional connection.” ~~ 

~~ “If I remember correctly, Charlie mentioned you may have taunted him about having the second highest grade in Professor Bernine’s Combinatorics course, even though it was one of only two times that I scored higher than he did.” 

~~ “Wait, are you … You’re the one who got him into playing chess?” ~~ 

~~ “That’s not quite accurate, Charlie has excelled in chess for as long as I’ve known him; if anything… At best, I’ve offered a challenge when we’ve played.” ~~ 

~~ “Well… That’s … Uh… Anyway, I had better get started on submitting that request and getting you the information you need. A video’s okay? Wouldn’t photo’s work better?” ~~ 

~~ “Garcia will be able to take anything I need from a video without having to worry about missing parts of the calculations with dropped photos, as long as you are standing at least four feet away from the board.” ~~ 

~~ “Gotcha. Okay, I’ll get started and send you what I can.”~~ 

// “Just a moment, Agent Eppes; this is SSA Aaron Hotchner, my team started working in the background as soon as we became aware of the situation. Our AD, Erin Strauss, has given us provisional approval to assist you in this matter. Email your formal request to her and ‘cc myself and Dr. Reid. She will formalize the approval on her end on receipt, and we will be flying out in forty-five minutes, give or take. Please have a conference room set up with at least two white boards and intranet connectivity for seven mobile devices. As well as transport from LAX in, Reid?” // 

~~ “Six hours and forty-two minutes inclusive of transportation to Dulles.” ~~ 

~~ “Okay, Uh, Dr. Reid, pass along my acceptance and thanks for the assist. You know I’m still going to have to talk to Charlie about talking to you without discussing it with me, first, but… I’m glad he did, which is not somewhere I expected this conversation to go.” ~~ 

~~ “I will, and yes, I do understand, but I will remind you that you have been working with incomplete information, and Charlie is bound by several stringent non-disclosure agreements regarding the release of any information anything he may have learned from our interactions - including my and others' clearance levels. You should take that into account before your discussion.” ~~ 

~~ “Okay, point made.” ~~ 

~~ “That remains to be seen.”~~ 

// “Reid, if your conversation with Agent Eppes is nearly finished, there are some matters we need to discuss as well.” // 

~~ “I heard; anything else we need to discuss, you have my number. I’ll let you go, and get that request submitted immediately. … And Dr. Reid… Thank you for watching out for Charlie. I mean it.” ~~

ブレンキン

// “Hotch, you wanted to speak to me?” // 

// “Yes, come in please; sit down. Before we discuss anything else, how are you doing? It’s unusual to see you lose your temper like that.”//

// “I’m fine, Hotch. The way that Agent Eppes treats his brother… It’s just a sore spot for me, and not just because we went to school together. Between the matriculation of my degrees and the various consultations I’ve provided to other agencies, I have run across at least a dozen instructors and supervisors who were more than happy to assign emotionally destructive tasks and calculations without regard for my or other’s well-being. That attitude in someone who is ‘just doing his job’ is bad enough, but for it to be inflicted on a close friend by his own brother… that's a situation that I just can't standby and ignore, Hotch.” // 

// “I can understand that, and Reid, between what I overheard and Derek passed along, I agree with the reasoning for you call; your approach - however - is problematic. First, right from the start, you should have brought me in on the call when you discovered you would be dealing with a person of higher rank. He and I are on essentially equal footing, and some of the things you said would - from you - justify a complaint or several complaints for insubordination if he chose to file them, where I could say the same things without having to worry about repercussions… By the way, the ‘Richard-Loving’ part, while odd, implied either fairly personal and or a potentially inflammatory accusation that shouldn’t be still be a concern in this day and age, but there are still pockets of extreme homophobia in some law enforcement agencies, so I would caution you to be a litte more reserved in your…’ // 

// “Agent Eppes was named after Richard Loving, the Virginia-born civil rights activist who rejected and protested against Virginia State's statutes criminalizing interracial marriage. I was simply implying knowledge of personal information beyond the initial, R., reported in his bureau file to catch his attention immediately. Charlie has mentioned that he finds the inclusion of the activist’s surname .... embarrassing, so never gives it out.” // 

// “I see, well, that does put a slightly different spin on it. I did think it was an odd choice of phrase ... In any event, if I had been involved from the start of the conversation, I could have arranged for provisional approval that much quicker, which would have been in line with your goals, I believe…’ // 

“ … … … To my second point then, in letting your temper get the better of you, you breached your own confidentiality agreement by announcing your clearance level in the bullpen and giving indications to other agencies you consult for. Thankfully, security footage confirmed that, outside of Morgan, there was no one else in or near the bullpen at the time, but these are serious issues Reid, and I need you to understand that.” // 

// “I do, Hotch, I promise.” // 

// “I hope so. Now, with regard to the risk analysis process you explained to Agent Eppes, I need your assurances that when you present a geographical profile, you are presenting everything that you come up with… that you are not holding anything back… Reid?” // 

// “...” // 

// “Reid, I’m serious.” // 

// “Yes, Hotch, I’m aware of that.” // 


End file.
